Two walks today. One around St. Helena to buy a book and a few provisions for supper. The second a sunset walk around the lovely grounds of the hospital. It is a glorious time here in the Napa Valley. Well worth visiting. And if you do, spend some time just taking a walk. Or riding a bike. Get out of that car and get to know this lovely wine producing area.
This got me to thinking about what a return to a pedestrian society would look like. How would it change us? Walking upright was one of those evolutionary milestones which enabled us to grasp things with our hands (such as a hoe or a club). This, some believe, led to a rapid extension of our frontal lobes, enlarging our brains--which made childbirth much more painful. But it also gave us the ability to think, create and reason.
Descartes got it wrong: I walk, therefore I think.
So what would a return to a pedestrian society look like? I just finished a biography of John Muir. The thing that jumped out at me was just how much walking he did. He walked from his parents farm to school in Madison (about thirty miles). He walked from Indiana to Florida. When he visited Yosemite the first time, he walked there--from San Francisco to Yosemite. For non Californians that'd be a couple hundred miles.
If the Peak Oil folks are correct, we will get to create a more pedestrian society before too very long. What changes might occur? Here are some thoughts:
1. Areas of commerce will be much more local. A return of the neighborhood store. Good bye big boxes!
2. We will be thinner.
3. The air will be cleaner.
4. Housing will be more compact. Good bye McMansions!
5. We will get to know our neighbors again.
6. We will be happier.
7. We will have a better sense of community.
8. Egalitarianism will return as a cultural value.
9. We will be less hurried.
10. There will be way less road kill. Feet don't squish critters.
11. Road rage will be a thing of the past.
12. Our refrigerators will become smaller.
13. Our brains might start evolving again, after a period of TV and Automobile induced Stasis.
That is a start. Can you think of ways a return to a pedestrian society will radically change who we are?
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